Thursday, May 25, 2006

Represent

Even going back to the early years of hip hop the culture has placed a heavy focus on representing. Be it your state, city, area, block or street - countless rappers have taken the opportunity to use their skills to promote where they come from. Here are five tracks where artists from various locations rep their hood.

Esham ft TNT - In DetroitAcid Rap originators Esham and TNT (two thirds of Natas) are never shy to rep the murder city, Detroit, MI. "In Detroit" was released as a single for Esham's 2003 release 'Repentance' that came out during his stay at ICP's Psychopathic Records. The track speaks for itself with almost every line starting with "In Detroit..." before Esham and TNT drop rhymes about the D. Esham also goes on to diss Eminem in this track with lines such as "I be the Rabbit killer the killer who killed rabbit, In Detroit they bust automatics at trailer park addicts"

Untold Chapters (C.I.N.) - Rep The RichUntold Chapters, the rebirth of the Richmond, CA group C.I.N. who dropped '94 Mobstas' and 'Richmond Roullette' in the 90's returned in the new millenium with a couple of albums under the new title. Richmond is most known in the hip hop game for producing Master P although I can assure you that these guys burn P, even in his heyday. B Double E, Money Bagz and Cooley T give the listeners a visual picture of their city by mentioning various streets on shops. From the first line, "Out here we jack for fun, out here was cap yo son, Niggas strapped - fully automatics, better pack your gun" to the last, this intense track is quality.

Killa Cole - MississippiHailing from Natchez, Blackboy Records artist Killa Cole dropped 'Dat Hillbillie Fonk' in 2001, the album featured the tribute to his home, the southern city of Mississippi. Other than the fact he has performed on the bill with such artists as Big Pokey, Lil Flip, Mystikal and Fabolous I don't really know anything about him. With his catchy spelt out hook and fast paced delivery this is definitely a worthwhile listen although it's obvious that Cole isn't on the same level as fellow Mississippi rapper David Banner and Crooked Lettaz. As a side note, the album cover has a mad little picture of a tractor sitting on gold Daytons, classic.

OFTB - Watts LifeWatts, CA is most known for the notorious 'Watts Riots' that took place in 1965 and for the world famous 'Watts Towers', you may remember them from many films including the final scenes from 'Ricochet' starring Ice T, Denzel and Lithgow. When it comes to hip hop, artists such as the Watts Gangstas, Kam, Juvenile Committee and OFTB hold it down for the city. This track, 'Watts Life' is off of their 1992 debut 'Straight Up Watts' on Big Beat Records. The track is sick from start to finish and it's just unfortunate that these guys (Flipside, Bustop, Low MB) never got their break even after signing with Death Row Records.

Overlord X - Rough In HackneyAs I love the old raw Brticore sound of artists like Gunshot, Derek B, Silver Bullett and of course Rhyme Syndicates Hijack, I couldn't resist throwing up this dedication to the North London borough of Hackney. The track is off Overlord X's 1989 Mango Street release 'Weapon Is My Lyric' album and features mad scratching and samples (including the "suckers to the side" Chuck D sample) and rough rugged lyrics. Overlord X is probably more known through his political '14 Days In May' but has many sick tracks.

1 comment:

Anonymous
said...

Im from the D. Every other Major city such as L.A and Atlanta has a bad part, then a good part. Where is Detroits good part? From the West to East is all bad. From Southwest to the outskirts, still pretty bad.